‘Paulus?’ said Nero. ‘I vaguely remember his being tried and acquitted a month ago. He seemed to me a harmless sort of man. He spoke, as I remember, very eloquently. Agrippa, and Berenice, and Festus, and even Felix, spoke well of him.’
‘They are the enemies of our race,’ said the High Priest, ‘and they deceive thee, O Emperor. It is this very Paulus who turns the world upside down, and not only preaches against our holy law, but forbids to pay tribute to Cæsar, and teaches men to worship Jesus as their king.’
‘Do they dare to set up another king than Cæsar?’ exclaimed Nero, hotly. ‘This must be seen to.’
‘I have heard of them,’ said Poppæa. ‘It is they, and not the Jews, who hate the whole human race.’
‘I am sorry I let that Paulus go,’ said Nero. ‘Tigellinus, have you any complaints against these imprisoned priests?’
‘None,’ said Tigellinus; ‘they cost nothing, for they live chiefly on olives and figs.’
‘Then set them free this evening.’
‘We thank Cæsar for his goodness,’ said the High Priest, once more making a low obeisance; ‘and we hope that he will deign to accept our present.’
The present was a golden box, in which were many vials of rose-tinted alabaster, full of the most precious balsam of Jericho, which filled the chamber with perfume as Josephus took it from an attendant slave and laid it at Nero’s feet.
‘This shall be for Poppæa,’ said the Emperor, ‘and on her behalf I will send you a purple hanging for your Temple. I hope you will ask Iaô to be propitious to me.’